Chapter 763 West Wind 9

On the night of the first day of the Chinese New Year, when the family was officially reunited in the New Year, the General Staff Command Center of the Ministry of Defense in Yanjing was already very busy because of the Battle of the Indian Ocean and Paris, which opened almost at the same time.

Chen Ping patted the snowflakes on his body, handed over his coat to the guard and walked into the conference room. Only then did he find that Duan Qirui and Tang Shaoyi were also here. After saying hello, he turned to Long Guozhang with a black carbon face.

"Ha ha, there was an accident?"

Commander Long's face naturally couldn't hide it from him. He took the hot water handed over by the secretary and deliberately teased and stabbed the scar.

"Damn it, Campbell is too cunning. He is as timid as a chicken. He was scared back by one of our submarines and wanted to take the Maldives route!" Commander Long bit the cigar, handed the telegram he had just received to Chen Ping, and scolded, "You bastard, it's going to take a lot of effort this time. Maybe it's going to happen."

"Tier may have run away, won't he?" After reading the telegram, Chen Ping smiled and said, "After all, he is also a famous general in the British navy. Do you think cabbage makes dumplings at any time?"

"It's not a name, but it's just a little troublesome." Long Guozhang said fiercely, "In a while, I will let the 74th Fleet turn west from Perth across the Indian Ocean to Madagascar. There are two light motherships, two cruisers and eight destroyers. When the South African fleet comes back, I will disgust him to death!"

"You old ruffian!" Tang Shaoyi really had a headache about the surname of Long Guozhang's flaws. She smiled and said, "It's not enough to kill one, and it's also a unique one!"

"Ha ha, I think Campbell has already made a good idea to go to the Maldives. After all, he has been watching us for so long. He has done some research and also knows that he will be surrounded along the coast of Africa, so he has made up his mind to at least keep one!" Duan Qirui is not as qualified as Tang Shaoyi. He dares not comment on Long Guozhang. He also admires Campbell's choice.

"How's the situation now?"

"Gu Junhuo led the 71st Fleet about 120 nautical miles behind Campbell. As long as he waited until tomorrow morning, he could launch an attack, but seven planes were lost this afternoon. If he consumed too much on Campbell later, he would have to watch Hill escape!"

"Where's the squadron?"

"The 72nd and 73 fleets were clamped behind Campbell before. With Campbell's turn, the 72nd Fleet is the closest to him. The 73rd Fleet is 70 nautical miles away, but some of the warships of the two squadrons are still on the way." Speaking of business, Long Guozhang also became particularly serious and continued: "In the past, the only way to stop Campbell was to let the 72nd Fleet attack, but most of our reinforcements to the Seventh Fleet were not on the road. Originally, we wanted to wait until the early morning, but now it seems that."

Chen Ping understood the meaning of Long Guozhang. In order to intercept the Indian Grand Fleet, the Admiralty temporarily integrated all the forces in the Indian Ocean except the four Hebei-class ships of the Second Fleet into the Seventh Fleet.

The 71st fleet is the Nanchu heavy aircraft carrier formation, with an aircraft carrier, 2 light patrols and 6 destroyers. The 72nd Fleet and the 73rd Fleet will be assigned to 3 light patrols and 10 destroyers according to the arrangement. As for the 74th Fleet, it is a formation of 2 light carriers from Perth.

In terms of strength, the reinforced Seventh Fleet is sure enough to entangle the Indian Grand Fleet to wait for the arrival of Fleet 21 from Singapore, but the problem is that Campbell's sudden break out of Mumbai without any warning in advance. The navy's troops in the Indian Ocean are already very scattered and blocked. Doors, with patrol escorts, it is unrealistic to gather in such a short time.

Therefore, the method of organizing each ship is adopted. Up to now, the 72nd Fleet closest to Campbell has only 2 light patrols and 6 destroyers in place, while the 73rd Fleet has only 1 light patrol and 5 destroyers, and the rest is still on the way.

If Campbell does not change its way, all the pursuing ships will be in place in four hours at the latest, and then launch a night attack in the early morning. But the problem is that Campbell has changed its way. Whether it is scared by the submarine or not, there is no doubt that it is a change of way.

This has caused the ships that had previously ordered to pursue the African coastline to re-adjust its course, creating a short vacuum. Of course, the reason for this problem is not that Campbell is cunning, nor can he calculate it. It's just that the navy's previous plan was calculated together with the South African fleet. Now the change of course forces the fleet to have to decide to take off Campbell first. However, the two South African fleets led by the prestige class, just Maybe flee back to South Africa, or even back to the Atlantic Ocean and back to Europe.

Although Long Guozhang just planned to turn the 74 fleet, the reliable 74 fleet adds up to only two mother ships of 30 aircraft. It is undoubtedly a fantasy to stop the South African fleet composed of six capital ships and four new cruisers that have strengthened air defense.

From this point of view, Campbell's expectation of turning to the Maldives has been met. At least it will take at least 2 hours to reorganize and make a new interception plan. If it is okay during the day, the 71st Fleet can block it for 2 hours through aircraft carrier attack, but now.

Chen Ping took a deep breath: "What is Gu Junhuo going to do?"

Long Guozhang looked at Duan Qirui and Tang Shaoyi, bit off the cigar head, and said fiercely, "He said that in 2 hours, you will always get it back!" And it is suggested that the 21st Fleet should leave Campbell alone.

"Ha ha, he has the guts."

Long Guozhang went to the map and said, "Campbell can reach the attack range of Gan Island bombers at the latest tomorrow morning. During the day, we can intercept them with bombers and aircraft carriers, and then attack with destroyers at night. Gu Junhuo said that he was 50 times sure to leave Campbell in the Maldives!"

"I'm sure of 50 percentage, but the price, have you Lao Long figured it out?" After reading the map, Chen Ping suddenly joked, "Aren't you afraid that Gu Jun Huo has used up your family's background?"

"I have thought about it. I can't bear to let the child hold the wolf. If I can pull a prestigious scrap iron back, I will gamble to the death!" Long Guozhang gritted his teeth, but after saying that, he suddenly looked at Tang Shaoyi, and his shoulder quickly collapsed: "Ha ha, besides, isn't there still a prime minister? You don't think our navy has become poor, will you?"

"Stop." Tang Shaoyi quickly raised her hand and scolded, "You old ruffian, I can tell you that unless there is a major change, your navy will not want to get an extra budget!"

"Don't, Prime Minister, you see that the British Hood has been launched. Later, I heard that there are still two ships of the same class, and the five ships they built for the French will be delivered by April at the latest. This is not."

Before Long Guozhang finished speaking, Chen Ping smiled and said, "Oy, go and inform the 21st Fleet first, give up intercepting Campbell, and immediately rush to the Seychelles Islands at full speed!"

This sentence made Tang Shaoyi feel awe-in-old. He didn't quite understand the words of the three members of the army before, but he finally knew that he would definitely pay a lot of price to intercept the Indian Grand Fleet with an aircraft carrier and some cruiser destroyers, but he didn't expect that Chen Ping would take the initiative to let the 21st Fleet at this time. He gave up intercepting at full speed in Seychelles, so he immediately said, "Wonshou, isn't this too risky? And the 21st Fleet also needs to pass through the Maldives Islands all the way south, so it won't take time to intercept it.

"No, it's delayed!"

Duan Qirui said on behalf of Chen Ping, "We can't kill Campbell tonight, and we can't even finish it tomorrow, so as long as he can keep some ships, the South African fleet will definitely not turn around, but if the 21st Fleet appears in the Maldives two days later to participate in the interception, he will immediately send a telegram to Hill to let him leave!"

Campbell's choice of Maldives route must have made up his mind not to give us a chance to surround him. Yuanshou gave him a big slap! He deliberately took advantage of Hill's eager opportunity to save Campbell. Didn't he want to be surrounded? Then let's divide and break it directly as he wants!"

"But the two British capital ships are equipped with 380mm cannons, and there are two more Spanish-class, relying on four Hebei-class, can you keep them?" Tang Shaoyi was a little worried.

"I don't know whether I can stay or not, but I believe that at least Hill can't escape completely!"

========21 night, 1:00 a.m.

On the 72 fleet flagship Lancang River light cruiser, the radar rotated in circles in the sea breeze, and the reflected radar waves were finally fed back to the screen on the fire control module through the wire, forming ripples.

At the edge of the ripple, some small dots appear from time to time, and the fire control calculator next to it is using a mechanical computer to calculate the data detected by radar.

A few minutes later, when the electronic officer grabbed the phone, the telephone light in the bridge turned on at the same time. The captain quickly grabbed the phone and turned his head after a moment: "The distance is 37,400 meters, heading southeast, with a speed of 16 knots."

On the chart table, Gao Xianshen, the commander of the 72nd Squadron and the captain of the Lancangjiang, raised his head after hearing this. He flashed his eyebrows and asked, "Have Tang Sheng and the others arrived?"

"It's arrived."

Gao Xianshen turned his head and saw that the four newly arrived destroyers outside the window were slowly being integrated into the lineup. Now there is only one light patrol that has not arrived, but even if it arrives, it can't help much, because the enemy in front of him is indeed a little tricky for the 72nd Fleet.

He is not afraid of destroyer cruisers, but the 10 main battleships are very dangerous. More than 80 large-caliber heavy guns, light cruisers and destroyers will be killed or injured as long as they are hit by a shell, so they must make good use of the speed.

And the only thing I can fight against them is the Spear Type 3 oxygen torpedo!

The Weiqing class and the Yangtze River class use a character-shaped five-loaded 550mm launcher. The 12 ships have a total of 120 standby and 120 standby bombs, but the cruisers must attract fire to cover the assault, so only 10 destroyers are really on the attack.

The spear type 3 can reach 15,000 meters in 47 knots and 21,000 meters in 40 knots. On paper, it can be attacked at the edge of the enemy's gun range, but in fact it is not the case.

47 knots seem to be very fast, but it is 1,450 meters per minute. If it is launched 15,000 meters away, it means that it will take at least 10 minutes to hit the enemy. Such a long time is enough for tens of thousands of tons of battleships to complete the helter. Therefore, in order to achieve a high hit rate, the distance must be compressed to nearly 6,000 meters, leaving the opponent only 4 minutes at most, and the shortest time for a battleship of more than 20,000 tons to complete a big rudder is basically three or four minutes.

But 6,000 meters is already dangerous for destroyers, because there is a fleet opposite.

In terms of image, the fleet is like a hedgehog with a large number of rapid-fire secondary guns, so if you want to attack safely, you need to choose the attack angle and attack point in addition to diverting part of the opponent's firepower.

So where is the first attack point?

Gao Xianshen's eyes were on the left rear of the opposite Indian Grand Fleet. Behind the four French cruisers were the only intact Northampton and British USS Ireland left in the United States!

"The first team, the right side is restrained."

"Second team, focus, 210 directions!"

"C cruiser, accelerate."

"Let's go and block the way!"

(to be continued)